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Xanthias and HeraklesAuthor(s): G. W. ElderkinSource: Classical Philology, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Jan., 1936), pp. 69-70Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/264017 .

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NOTES AND DISCUSSIONS

XANTHIAS AND HERAKLES

In the

Frogs

of Aristophanes

the slave

Xanthias

accedes to the

request

of

Dionysus

that

he

take the lion's

skin

and club

of

Herakles,

and

pose

as

the

hero.

Dionysus predicts that

this

Herakleioxanthias

will

prove

to

be

the

whipped

slave from Melite.' Since there was a famous cult of Herakles in

the

deme

Melite,

and Xanthias has assumed the attributes

of the

hero,

the

point

of the prediction seems to be that Herakles had at some time received a

whipping, either

at his

initiation

into the

lesser

mysteries

in

Melite or

during

his

service as a slave at

the

court

of

Omphale. Kock,

however, noting

the

reference

to Callias

in

verse

428, believes that Aristophanes

is

here taking

another

fling

at

him, especially since

Callias lived

in

Melite;2

but

the

term

,IacLTUrylas

could not be applied

so

appropriately

to

Callias,

who was

not

a

whipped slave,

as to

Herakles,

who had

been,

and to

Xanthias,

who

was

about

to be whipped while disguised as

Herakles.

The name

Zcwcapas,

which

occurs several times

in

Aristophanes,

is

derived

from

tavcos,

yellow, and denoted a flaxen-haired slave. The comic poet

may here

be playing upon

an

assumed derivation from actvetv,

to card, as

if

the name were formed from the

aorist passive

cavwOes.Slaves not only carded

wool,

as

Herakles did for

Omphale, but they were

probably the first

to

be

carded

when

the aKKaWGaame

into use

as a

means of

punishment. When

Croesus succeeded to the

kingship

of

Lydia, he punished the man

who had

supported

his

half-brother Pantaleon for the

succession

by having

him

dragged

to

his

death over aKaWOat.3

The verbs talvetv

and

KPacrTLv,

which

had the same meaning, were

used in a transferred sense

with

g'arTTL.4

When

in the

Frogs

(657) Xanthias is

whipped, he exclaims

o'0otL

and asks the

servant

to remove a thorn:

Trv

a'KacaOc

fQeXe.

Commentators ssumethat

the

thorn

is

in

his

foot.

It

is

rather

in

the back, where

many thorns must have

been

lodged

in

the

case of

those unfortunate slaves who were carded. The

1

Frogs

499-501.

2

Ad vs.

501.

Hesychius,

s.V. ebrl

KVJ&c/OV

XKWJV.

&LaOepcwv:

6

oUv'

Kpo7oos

Trp

iXOp6p

eppeitaLe

Ta?s

&K&J'OcZ

KaL

OVTws

&LeLpeV

(cf. Herodotus i.

92).

Alyattes nominated

Croesus as

his

successor

perhaps

because his

mother

was a Carian

and

therefore

of superior

birth,

whereas Pantaleon was the son of an Ionian woman. Such determination of status was

the rule

among

the

Lycians.

The names of

Croesus and his

half-brother appear to

have

been

Lydian

and Greek in

keeping with the

nationality

of their

mothers.

Cratinus

Incert.

116:

rTB

aoTrLyL

KJ4V&qeW;

Dion. Hal. iii. 30:

talvewr6

TCoWAa

jA/oTLrC&.

69

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70

NOTES

AND

DISCUSSIONS

inference

rom

a passage

n

Herodas

s that offenders

were hung

up by

the

foot to

be carded.5

The

exclamation

f

Xanthias

n

verse

649

brings

he

question

as

to whether

he

hassuffered

ny pain,

to

which

he replies

n the

negativeby sayingthat he

was

just

thinking

of the Herakleia

which

was celebrated

n the deme

Diomeia.

That

a

Herakleioxanthias

whom Dionysus

has compared

o

the

Melitean

whip-slave

Herakles)

houldbe

reminded,

by the whipping,

of the

Diomeian

festival depends

for

its

significance

upon

some

close

relationship

between

Melite

and Diomeia.

The close connection

s

established

by the record

of

a

migration

of Meliteans

o the deme

of

Diomeia.6

It may

be

assumed

hat

the

settlers

took

with

them

to their new

home

the cult

of the Melitean

Herakles

where t may havebeenfusedin someway with the greatcult of Herakles n

Kynosarges.

The remark

of Xanthias

would become

highly

significant

f

the

cult

of the

transplanted

Melitean

Herakles ncluded

a

mystic

rite of

flagella-

tion

suchas

we see

depicted

n the frescoes

of the

Villa Item.

This is the

more

likely

because

the descent

of Dionysus

and the pseudo-Herakles

o bring

up

Euripides

s

clearly

an

Aristophanic

arody

of

the mystic

descent

to Hades

of

the

real Herakles

and Dionysus.

The comicpoet

may

have

had

in mind

the

Orphic

KaTrai3acs

s

'Atbov.

t is

during

heirdescent

n

the Frogs

hat

the

two

receive

a

whipping.

Mystic

rite may

well

have enacted

the story

of

the

descentof the god and hero to the abodeof the dead and their significant

return.

Kock,

however,

believes

that

the remark

of

Xanthias

was

intended

by

the

slave

to

convey

the

impression

hat the whipping

didnot cause

him

any

pain

physically

but

that

he was

saddened

and grieved

by

the cessation

of the

festival

of

Herakles,

whom

he is

impersonating.

This seems

to bea very

much

forced

explanation.

There

would be

more

point

to the reference

by

Xanthias

to

the festival

if it reminded

he Athenians

of some punishment

which

an

impersonator f Herakles

received

at the Herakleia.

The

act

may

itself

have

been

a

burlesque

f a onceserious

rite.

The whipping

of

Heraklesby

an

Om-

phale

would

have offered

opportunities

or

jibes

at the

festival

such

as

might

well

make

of

the

Diomeian

Herakleion

rendezvous

f

jokers

whose

witticisms

became

so famous

as

to

provoke

the curiosity

of Philip of

Macedon.7

Not

only

Herakles

but

Dionysus

as

well

became

the

target

of

comedy,

so

that

Julian

centuries

ater

could refer

to the comedians

who drag

Herakles

and

Dionysus

on the

stage

and make

a

public

show

of them.8Perhaps

Aristoph-

anes

in the

Frogs

should

receive

the blame

or the credit

for starting

the

two Thebansons of Zeuson the roadto ridicule.

G. W.

ELDERKIIN

PRINCETON

UNIVERSITY

6

iv.

78;

cf. Headlam,

Herodas,

p.

211.

6

Plut.

De

exil.

6.

7

Athenaeus

xiv.

614d.

s

Misopogon

366c;

Orat.

vii.

204b.

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